Kodiak prepares for emergenciesThe Bayside Fire Department and the Red Cross hosted an emergency preparedness fair on Saturday. About 200 people attended the four-hour event and learned how to use a fire extinguisher, how to build an emergency kit and evacuation routes in case of a tsunami. Fire prevention was a big theme of the day. Bayside’s Fire prevention officer Jim Pickett pointed out fire hazards that many people may not realize. Pickett...

Outdoor Kodiak: Hunting the old wayThe road-system deer season ends this Friday, Oct. 31. Starting Saturday, Nov. 1 you ‘ll have to move off the road system to hunt deer, right? Not so fast. If you’ve taken the class and passed the qualifying ADF&G qualifying exam for either muzzleloading or archery, you can continue to hunt the road system “primitive weapon” deer season extending from Nov. 1 through Nov. 14. There are many good reasons to make you...

Public Safety Blotter: Oct. 28October 14 • At 1:15 a.m., a caller reported a bear getting into several houses’ trash in the Lynden Way and Selief Lane area. It was gone when police arrived. • At 1:42 a.m., police cited a man on Marine Way for criminal trespass in the second degree. • At 7:02 a.m., police warned a speeding driver on Mill Bay Road. • At 7:20 a.m., police cited a driver on Rezanof Drive for having no proof of insurance. • At 7:30...

Alumni update: Lindquist begins season at NAUJori Lindquist dove into her sophomore swimming season at Northern Arizona University on Friday. The former Kodiak High School state champion scored five points in her team’s 170-130 loss to University of New Mexico. Lindquist was the top Northern Arizona swimmer in the 100-yard backstroke, placing third in 58.91 seconds. The winner touched the wall in 57.36. She added a fourth-place finish in the 200 backstroke w...

Kodiak ESS volleyball starts strongKodiak Island’s rural-school volleyball players sparkled in their 2014 season debut. The Kodiak Emerging Small School team won a mix-6 tournament Saturday in Nikolaevsk on the Kenai Peninsula. ESS is a team composed of high school players from the Kodiak Island Borough School District’s rural schools. This is the third year of the program, and the first time the volleyball team has snagged a trophy. “We were learn...

Travis WheelerOur beloved Travis, age 39, left his long struggle with illness behind and passed into eternity to be with his Heavenly Father, Lord, and Savior on Oct. 21, 2014. Travis was born in Boise on July 28, 1975 to Bill and Terry Wheeler. Although his parents divorced when Travis was only three, he was always close to his father. His mother later married Kenneth Houston, and Travis was then blessed with another father an...

Pro-marijuana legalization police chief to speak in KodiakA Missouri police chief has expressed his support for legalization of recreational marijuana use in Alaska, saying many law enforcement officers have started to realize that the country’s current drug policies aren’t really working. Chief Larry Kirk, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, spoke to the Kodiak Daily Mirror a few days before delivering his views at the local rotary clubs and radio stations ...

Kodiak’s relatively unknown fishery provides extra income for divers. (VIDEO)Kodiak has a fishery that many people may not know about: Parastichopus Californicus, commonly referred to as the red sea cucumber. It kind of looks like a cucumber, except the wrong color. It’s red and while it looks prickly, its spines are actually soft and not dangerous. In fact, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Kodiak Laboratory has two types of cucumbers in both its aquarium and touch tank. About 20 dive...

Fish Factor: Canadian gold and copper mines threaten salmon rivers in Southeast Alaska Throughout history, arguments over land and water usages have run the gamut from tussles over fences with next-door neighbors to shootouts over inter-state grazing rights in the Old West. But when land and water rights pit one country against another, that’s when things really get tricky. That is the situation in Southeast Alaska, where residents find themselves downstream from several massive open-pit gold and co...